Interserve is on track to open the 500-bed Birmingham Nightingale hospital to patients on Friday.
In a phenomenal effort, 400 Interserve staff and subcontractors, with help from 60 Ghurkas, worked around the clock to complete the project in one week.
And this was achieved in line with the social distancing guidelines set out by the Government.
From planning to completion, the conversion of one of the NEC halls has taken just two weeks.
The first phase of the facility will have capacity for 800 patients as of this weekend. The site will eventually accommodate up to another 4,000 patient beds.
Paul Gandy, managing director of Interserve Construction, said:
“The NHS Nightingale Birmingham has been built at a remarkable pace and with huge discipline.
“Our 400 employees and contractors have worked over 40,000 hours since Saturday to build this hospital, employing great logistics and project management skills.
“The NHS Nightingale Birmingham shows what can be achieved when people come together across the construction sector to protect the NHS and save lives.
“As the principal contractor working with University Hospitals Birmingham, our key supply chain partners and the NEC, our people have been working on site 24 hours a day to create this lifesaving medical facility.”
NHS Nightingale Hospital Birmingham in Numbers
over 64 miles of cable laid
10 miles of copper piping
15,000m2 of plywood
vinyl flooring across the equivalent of 11.5 football pitches
4,000 patient beds at completion
The metal used in the bed bays, laid end to end, would stretch over 22 kilometres
Interserve is supported by the Gurkhas, who are providing essential labour and distribution delivery, as well as helping to put the beds in place.
The new hospital is the second of several under development in the UK, with others under construction in Manchester and Glasgow in light of the developing situation with COVID-19.
Written by Aaron Morby